Wise, the UK-based financial services firm, intends to resubmit its application for a US national trust bank charter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) under the framework of the GENIUS Act, according to multiple reports. The decision follows an initial rejection this week in which regulators cited anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing risks as grounds for denial.
The OCC denied the UK company’s application this week citing AML/CFT risks, Cointelegraph reported. That denial arrived even though the regulator has approved similar charters for digital asset companies over the last year, a pattern that underscores the uneven landscape facing firms seeking federal banking status.
Wise’s move to file under the GENIUS Act framework represents a deliberate shift in strategy following the setback. By aligning its second attempt with that structure, the company appears to be seeking a regulatory pathway that clarifies how it must address the AML/CFT deficiencies identified in the first review. The framework’s selection suggests Wise believes it offers a more viable route to securing OCC endorsement than its initial submission.
The contrast between Wise’s rejection and the regulator’s broader chartering activity has drawn industry attention. While the firm was told this week that its safeguards against financial crime fell short, the OCC has spent the last year extending approval to other digital asset companies pursuing comparable national trust charters. That divergence raises questions about the specific standards applied to each applicant and the exact benchmarks required to satisfy the agency’s compliance officers.
In a similar vein, The Block noted that the OCC has granted conditional approval to several stablecoin-focused entities since December. Those approvals indicate that the regulator is not closed to new banking entrants with digital-asset business models, provided they can demonstrate adequate controls. For Wise, the UK financial services firm, the conditional green lights given to stablecoin firms since late last year may signal that a strengthened compliance posture could yet win the OCC’s consent.
The sequence of events also highlights the tightening competition to secure federal trust charters in the United States. With the OCC showing willingness to charter stablecoin-focused firms while simultaneously blocking Wise over AML/CFT concerns, applicants now face pressure to align their risk-management frameworks with the implicit expectations embedded in recent approvals. Wise’s decision to resubmit specifically under the GENIUS Act framework suggests the company interprets that structure as the template for meeting those expectations.
If the resubmission succeeds, Wise would secure a national trust bank charter from the OCC, placing it among the firms that have cleared the agency’s bar despite a tightening emphasis on financial crime prevention. Failure to address the cited AML/CFT risks, however, could leave the UK firm on the outside of a federal banking system that has grown more accommodating to digital asset and stablecoin operators since December.
The coming months will reveal whether the GENIUS Act framework provides the clarity Wise needs to bridge the gap between rejection and approval, and whether the OCC will apply the same rigorous AML/CFT lens to the revised application that it used to justify this week’s denial.